Anxiety often remains unrecognized or untreated among patients with a chronic illness, and may have deleterious consequences including declines in quality of life and lack of compliance with the treatment plan. Matthew P. Herring, from the University of Georgia (USA), and colleagues analyzed the results of 40 randomized clinical trials involving nearly 3,000 patients with a variety of chronic medical conditions, including heart disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer and chronic pain from arthritis. The researchers found that, on average, patients who exercised regularly reported a 20% reduction in anxiety symptoms (as compared to those who did not exercise). Writing that “Exercise training programs lasting no more than 12 weeks, using session durations of at least 30 minutes, and an anxiety report time frame greater than the past week resulted in the largest anxiety improvements,” the team urges that” Exercise training reduces anxiety symptoms among sedentary patients who have a chronic illness.”
